Beyond Silence - essay synopsis

Following is the synopsis for my essay Beyond Silence. Open to publisher enquires.

• Braided essay (personal/investigative)

• 3800 words

• Final Edit

• Previously accepted but not published by Meanjin

Beyond Silence - grieving among others, is an exploration of grief and the consequences of mourning in a society uncomfortable with its presence. Opening with an account of losing my parents and brother in a boating accident at 19, I share my experience of finding myself alone, without family and unable to find a place where my sorrow was accepted. I endeavour to counter some of the entrenched misconceptions about how we grieve and the solace sought from others.

I draw on neuroscience, literature, western and First Nations philosophy to illustrate the nature of grief, and western society’s dissociation from it. Grief is silent, it cannot be hurried, it will not bend to the demands of personal or societal expectations.

I call on the works and insights of writers and philosophers including Seneca, Joan Didion, Nick Cave, and Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann to illuminate our experience and how we might each learn to sit with sorrow—whether our own or another’s—and listen beyond the silence.

Beyond Silence will appeal to readers of essayists such as Mark Tredinnick and Nardi Simpson.